The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Nemesia plant that is grown as an ornamental for border, patio container or hanging basket. The new cultivar is known botanically as Nemesia×hybrida and will be referred to hereinafter by the cultivar name ‘Fleurame’. The new variety ‘Fleurame’ is floriferous, sets few seeds, exhibits upright compact habit, medium-green leaves, and strongly fragrant flowers that appear as shades of soft pink, lavender and purple colors with yellow eyes and white throats.
‘Fleurame’ is a hybrid that resulted from a formal breeding program begun by the inventor in 1998 at her nursery in West Sussex, United Kingdom. The purpose of the breeding program is to produce new varieties of Nemesia that exhibit compact habit, new flower color and improved flower size.
In 2001, the inventor cross-pollinated Nemesia seedling #42 (female parent), an unpatented and unreleased selection from a prior cross between the inventor's variety Nemesia ‘Melanie’ (unpatented) and another unnamed seedling from the same program, with Nemesia ‘Claudette’ (male parent), an unpatented selection from the same breeding program. The inventor collected the seed, then sowed and grew to flowering stage many plants from this cross-pollination. The inventor selected ‘Fleurame’ as a single plant with the desired characteristics described herein.
In comparison with its parents, ‘Fleurame’ exhibits different flower colors, as follows: the female parent, Nemesia seedling #42, carries pink or lilac colored flowers; and the male parent, Nemesia ‘Claudette’, carries darker mauve pink flowers. Nemesia seedling #42 is also shorter in height than ‘Fleurame’,
‘Fleurame’ was first asexually propagated by the inventor in 2002 in a cultivated area of West Sussex, United Kingdom using softwood cuttings. The distinguishing characteristics of ‘Fleurame’ have been determined stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.